Full file at
Chapter 01
The Collision of Cultures
1. The origins of the majority of human existence in North America began
A. with migrations from Eurasia over the Bering Strait.
B. with the explorations of Christopher Columbus.
C. as a result of the development of the wheel.
D. long after the last ice age ended.
E. from the southern tip of South America.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: America Before Columbus
2. Scholars estimate that human migration into the Americas over the Bering Strait occurred approximately
A. 2,000 years ago.
B. 5,000 years ago.
C. 9,000 years ago.
D. 11,000 years ago.
E. 18,000 years ago.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: America Before Columbus
3. The first truly complex society in the Americas was that of the
A. Mayas.
B. Aztecs.
C. Incas.
D. Pueblos.
E. Olmec.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: America Before Columbus
4. The pre-Columbian American peoples in the Pacific Northwest
A. did not have permanent settlements.
B. developed political systems as sophisticated as those of the Mayas and Aztecs.
C. fished salmon as their principal occupation.
D. were the most peaceful of pre-Columbian societies.
E. were known as the Inuit.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: America Before Columbus
5. The pre-Columbian North American peoples in the Southwest
A. were primarily hunters of small game.
B. built large irrigation systems for farming.
C. lived in small, nomadic tribes.
D. created an economy exclusively based on trade.
E. primarily pursued moose and caribou for sustenance.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: America Before Columbus
6. In the Great Plains region, most pre-Columbian societies
A. engaged in sedentary farming.
B. lived in small nomadic tribes.
C. hunted buffalo for survival.
D. used horses.
E. developed a harsh religion that required human sacrifice.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: America Before Columbus
7. Prior to European contact, the eastern third of what is today the United States
A. was politically controlled by the Cahokia Indians.
B. contained no permanent settlements.
C. had the most abundant food resources of any region of the continent.
D. was populated by tribes that engaged in hunting and gathering but did not yet farm.
E. remained for the most part uninhabited.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: America Before Columbus
8. Cahokia was a large trading center located near what present-day city?
A. St. Louis
B. Memphis
C. New Orleans
D. Baton Rouge
E. Detroit
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: America Before Columbus
9. Many pre-Columbian tribes east of the Mississippi River were loosely linked by
A. the shared use of a series of forts.
B. common linguistic roots.
C. economic compacts.
D. intertribal religious festivals.
E. the Iroquois Confederacy.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: America Before Columbus
10. Native American religions were closely linked to
A. the idea of apocalypse.
B. human sacrifice.
C. ideas of male dominance.
D. visions from the world of spirits.
E. the natural world.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: America Before Columbus
11. Which statement best describes the role of women in pre-Columbian North American tribes?
A. In some tribes, men took care of the children as the women tended the fields.
B. In all tribes, women cared for the children and prepared meals.
C. In no tribes did women participate in the social and economic organization of the tribe.
D. In all tribes, both women and men engaged in hunting.
E. In all tribes, women were responsible for farming.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: America Before Columbus
12. Regarding knowledge of the Americas prior to the fifteenth century, most Europeans
A. were aware of the travels of the Norse seaman Leif Eriksson in the eleventh century.
B. believed the Americas consisted of little more than several small islands.
C. were entirely unaware of the existence of the Americas.
D. assumed that the Americas were largely unpopulated.
E. had only heard of America from the travels of Marco Polo.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: Europe Looks Westward
13. In the late fifteenth century, the desire in Europe to look for new lands was spurred in part by
A. significant population growth.
B. the absence of a merchant class.
C. the declining political power of many monarchs.
D. the expansion of feudalism.
E. a desire to escape the Black Death.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: Europe Looks Westward
14. The preeminent European maritime power in the fifteenth century was
A. Spain.
B. Portugal.
C. France.
D. the Netherlands.
E. England.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: Europe Looks Westward
15. Christopher Columbus
A. was trained as a sailor through his long service to Italy.
B. was a man of little ambition.
C. believed that Asia could only be reached by sailing east.
D. believed the Americas consisted of a few islands.
E. thought the world was much smaller than it is in reality.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: Europe Looks Westward
16. In his first voyage in 1492, Christopher Columbus
A. sailed along the coast of what is present-day Virginia.
B. mistook Cuba for China.
C. was briefly captured by natives he encountered.
D. was forced to put down a mutiny on the Santa Maria.
E. crossed the Atlantic Ocean in six weeks.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: Europe Looks Westward
17. Christopher Columbus called the native people he encountered on his voyages “Indians” because
A. he believed they came from the East Indies in the Pacific.
B. it is what the natives called themselves.
C. he mispronounced their actual name.
D. Norse seamen had previously used the term.
E. he wanted to hide his discovery from rival explorers.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: Europe Looks Westward
18. As a result of his third voyage in 1498, Christopher Columbus concluded that
A. all of the lands he had seen were in Asia.
B. he had never come even remotely close to Asia.
C. he had encountered a continent separate from Asia.
D. Asia could not be reached by a ship traveling west from Europe.
E. the lands he had discovered offered great mineral wealth.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: Europe Looks Westward
19. Amerigo Vespucci
A. sailed on the voyages with Christopher Columbus.
B. was a leading critic of Columbus’s claims.
C. hailed from Portugal.
D. never traveled to the New World.
E. helped spread recognition of the idea that the Americas were new continents.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: Europe Looks Westward
20. Who was the first known European to look westward upon the Pacific Ocean, in 1513?
A. Amerigo Vespucci
B. Vasco de Balboa
C. Juan Ponce de León
D. Ferdinand Magellan
E. Hernando Cortés
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: Europe Looks Westward
21. What European explorer gave the Pacific Ocean its name?
A. Amerigo Vespucci
B. Vasco de Balboa
C. Juan Ponce de León
D. Ferdinand Magellan
E. Hernando Cortés
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: Europe Looks Westward
22. Hernando Cortés’s conquest of the Aztecs in 1518 was made possible largely due to
A. political divisions within the Aztec leadership.
B. the exposure of the Aztecs to smallpox.
C. the brutality of the Spanish conquistadores.
D. Spanish alliances with enemies of the Aztecs.
E. the Spanish co-opting the Aztec religion.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: Europe Looks Westward
23. Which statement about Spanish settlements in the New World is FALSE?
A. Spanish gold and silver mines were enormously productive.
B. Spanish colonies would form one of the largest empires in the history of the world.
C. The Catholic Church was very interested in spreading Christianity in Mexico.
D. The first Spanish settlers were mostly interested in farming.
E. Many helped establish elements of European civilization permanently in America.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: Europe Looks Westward
24. An encomienda was a
A. special title given to Spanish explorers of the New World.
B. religious ceremony.
C. Spanish-run community of assimilated Indians.
D. uniform worn by conquistadores.
E. license to exact tribute and labor from natives.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
25. The first permanent Spanish settlement in what is now the United States was
A. New Orleans.
B. St. Augustine.
C. Santa Fe.
D. St. Louis.
E. San Francisco.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: Europe Looks Westward
26. In 1680, the Pueblo Indians rose in revolt against Spanish settlers after the Spanish
A. attempted to convert the Pueblos to Catholicism.
B. made efforts to suppress Indian religious rituals.
C. demanded tribute from the Indians.
D. began to export Pueblos out of the colony to be sold as slaves.
E. banned intermarriage between Spaniards and Pueblos.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: Europe Looks Westward
27. To reduce conflicts, Spanish policy toward the Pueblo Indians in the eighteenth century involved all of the
following EXCEPT
A. intensified efforts at assimilating the Pueblos.
B. a willingness to permit the Pueblos to own their own land.
C. toleration of tribal religious rituals.
D. an expansion of the encomienda system.
E. a stop to the commandeering of Indian labor.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: Europe Looks Westward
28. What factor is believed to have dramatically reduced New World native populations after contact with
Europeans?
A. war
B. disease
C. starvation
D. enslavement
E. religious conversion
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: Europe Looks Westward
29. In what way did sixteenth-century Europeans benefit from trade between the Americas and Europe?
A. Food prices sharply rose as new crops flooded the European market.
B. Health care improved as Indian medical practices were widely practiced in Europe.
C. A large number of new crops became available in Europe.
D. Trade with the Americas ended future food shortages in Europe.
E. Forced immigration of Indian slaves reduced labor shortages in Europe.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: Europe Looks Westward
30. Which of the following was NOT introduced by Europeans to the New World?
A. bananas
B. pigs
C. sugar
D. horses
E. corn
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: Europe Looks Westward
31. In Spanish colonial societies, mestizos
A. were considered to be at the top of the social hierarchy.
B. came to make up the largest segment of the population.
C. were officially illegal but generally tolerated.
D. were usually sold into slavery.
E. was the name given to Catholic priests, friars, and missionaries.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: Europe Looks Westward
32. Which of the following statements is most accurate regarding African immigrants to the Americas between 1500and 1800?
A. Almost all came against their will.
B. They made up over half of all immigrants to the New World.
C. Almost all came against their will, and they made up over half of all immigrants to the New World.
D. Almost all came voluntarily, making up somewhat less than half of all immigrants to the New World.
E. Almost all came voluntarily.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: Europe Looks Westward
33. At the time of the beginning of the slave trade, most Africans
A. were primitive peoples dominated by warring tribal societies.
B. had little commercial contact with the Mediterranean world.
C. followed the Christian faith.
D. had well-developed economies and political systems.
E. had no important cities or trading centers.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: Europe Looks Westward
34. African and American Indian societies tended to be matrilineal, which means
A. people traced their heredity through their mothers.
B. only women could be the heads of families.
C. men could not inherit property.
D. women were in control of the social institutions.
E. only mothers could act as political leaders.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: Europe Looks Westward
35. In the fifteenth century, slavery in Africa
A. was considered a permanent condition for the enslaved individual.
B. proscribed that children born of enslaved parents were also slaves.
C. was introduced by Europeans.
D. was made up of an exclusively African slave population.
E. generally allowed certain legal protections for the enslaved.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: Europe Looks Westward
36. In what chronological order, from earliest to latest, did European countries control the African slave trade?
A. the Portuguese, the Dutch, the English
B. the English, the Spanish, the Dutch
C. the Dutch, the English, the Spanish
D. the English, the Dutch, the Portuguese
E. the Portuguese, the Spanish, the Dutch
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: Europe Looks Westward
37. What condition(s) in England in the sixteenth century provided incentive for colonization?
A. The availability of farmland was declining, while the population was growing.
B. The demand for wool was declining, while the population was growing.
C. Pasture land was being converted to crop production, while the population was declining.
D. Both the food supply and the population were declining.
E. Both the food supply and the population were increasing.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: The Arrival of the English
38. Which statement regarding the economic theory of mercantilism is FALSE?
A. It presumed that the world’s wealth was finite.
B. It increased competition among nations.
C. It reduced the desire for nations to acquire and maintain colonies.
D. It assumed that exporting goods was preferable to importing goods.
E. Its principles spread throughout Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: The Arrival of the English
39. In England during the early sixteenth century, mercantilism thrived mostly on the basis of trade in which
commodity?
A. spices
B. slaves
C. lumber
D. corn
E. wool
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: The Arrival of the English
40. In what way were Martin Luther and John Calvin important to English Puritans?
A. These two men would help found the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
B. Luther and Calvin encouraged the Puritans to leave England for the New World.
C. Luther and Calvin advocated ideas of religious reform that influenced Puritan thought.
D. They were the most influential English Puritans of the seventeenth century.
E. Luther and Calvin helped to break the hold of predestination on the Puritan mind.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: The Arrival of the English
41. The teachings of John Calvin
A. produced a strong desire among his followers to lead lives that were virtuous.
B. were most rapidly accepted in southern Europe.
C. were officially adopted by the Church of England.
D. were at odds with Catholic doctrines, but not with Catholic practices.
E. helped to promote the doctrine of free will so vital to encouraging exploration.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: The Arrival of the English
42. The English Reformation resulted from
A. the threat of war between England and France.
B. a political dispute between King Henry VIII and the Catholic Church.
C. the rise of Lutheranism within the English church.
D. the persecution by King James I of liberal priests.
E. the defeat of the Spanish Armada.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: The Arrival of the English
43. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the already festering English Puritan discontent was increased by
A. the suppression of English Catholics.
B. the end of rule by the Stuarts.
C. the rising influence of Quakers within the English church.
D. Queen Elizabeth’s promotion of English theater.
E. the death of Queen Elizabeth.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: The Arrival of the English
44. England’s first experience with colonization came in
A. North America.
B. the Caribbean.
C. Canada.
D. Ireland.
E. Africa.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: The Arrival of the English
45. From their colonial experiences in Ireland, the English concluded that
A. they should not try to convert indigenous peoples to English religious beliefs.
B. English colonists should maintain rigid separation from an indigenous population.
C. military expenditures were fiscally wasteful.
D. indigenous populations were essential as the major colonial labor source.
E. harsh treatment of indigenous populations could lead to rebellion.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: The Arrival of the English
46. Which statement about French colonization in the New World is FALSE?
A. French settlers exercised an influence disproportionate to their numbers.
B. The French, like the English, tried to remain separate from native peoples.
C. The French were more likely than the English to press inland.
D. The French colonial economy was based on an extensive fur trade.
E. The French often lived among the natives and married Indian women.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: The Arrival of the English
47. The first permanent English settlement in the New World was established in
A. Boston.
B. Raleigh.
C. Roanoke.
D. Plymouth.
E. Jamestown.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: The Arrival of the English
48. One important consequence of the defeat of the Spanish Armada was that
A. France came to dominate Spain.
B. Catholicism was swept from western Europe.
C. England found the seas more open to their control.
D. the Reformation extended into Spain.
E. Spain was forced to relinquish its New World empire.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: The Arrival of the English
49. The colony of Virginia was named in honor of
A. Virginia Dare.
B. Walter Raleigh.
C. Humphrey Gilbert.
D. Elizabeth I.
E. Queen Mary.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: The Arrival of the English
50. The cause of the failure of the Roanoke colony
A. was a severe food shortage.
B. is historically inconclusive.
C. deterred the English from another colonizing effort for forty years.
D. was the death of the colony’s governor.
E. was a virulent malarial epidemic.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: The Arrival of the English
51. The civilizations and political systems of pre-Columbian Native Americans north of Mexico were less elaboratethan those of the peoples to the south.
TRUE
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: America Before Columbus
52. The eleventh-century explorations and discoveries of Leif Eriksson were common knowledge in the Europeanworld of the fifteenth century.
FALSE
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Topic: Europe Looks Westward
53. Portuguese exploration in the late fifteenth century concentrated on finding a route to the Orient by sailing aroundAfrica.
TRUE
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation